A witness told NBC New York that a school bus was struck and that a man got out of the truck “and started shooting up the place.” NBC New York reported that the facsimile weapon may have been a BB gun.

“All the kids were in the courtyard of P.S. 89 and started running,” the witness said. He said he went to the struck school bus and one side was caved in, with one girl struck above a wheel well and two other children trapped by a window. “It was all blown out.”

Update 6:01PM EST

At a news conference just now, Commissioner James P. O’Neill relayed the timeline of events.

At 3:05PM EST, the suspect was driving in a rented Home Depot truck. He his a number of pedestrians and bicyclists. He continued on until he collided with a school bus on Chamber Street. As a result of that collision, two adults and two children were injured.

After he exited the vehicle, he brandished two weapons. The weapons turned out to be a paintball gun and a pellet gun. A police officer confronted him and shot him in the abdomen.

Police know the identity of the suspect but they are not releasing his name yet, pending a further investigation.

Update 5:57PM EST

Mayor Bill de Blasio told the media, “Based on information we have at this moment, this was an act of terror, and a particularly cowardly act of terror aimed at innocent civilians.”

The driver of the truck is an immigrant, who entered the United States in 2010. His condition has been declared as being in grave condition.

It is not clear the ages of the people struck, but the truck struck near Stuyvesant High School just as it was letting out.

UPDATE 5:52PM EST

The suspect has been identified as a 29-year old man. He is being reported to have been shot in the abdomen. NY Police Commissioner James P O’Neill told the media that the suspect did make a statement to the police. This caused the police to declar that the incident was an act of terrorism.

UPDATE: 5:47PM EST

The Death toll is now being given as 8 dead and at least 15 injured. Law enforecment officials are now officially investigating this event as a terror attack. Four different law enforcement sources confirmed eyewitness reports that the man shouted “Alluha Akbar” after getting out of the truck. FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force is being reported, but not confirmed, as taking over the investigation.

Picture of the wrecked pickup truck.

What is looking more and more like a terrorist attack happened today, Tuesday, October 31st at 3:15PM. As of right now, what we know is that a man drove a flatbed pickup truck from Home Depot down a one-way bike path at West Street in New York City, Manhattan. The truck was going in the wrong direction. This does not appear to be an accident as was reported initially.

The driver may have been shot while he was driving, but still managed to plow into a group of cyclists, killing at least 6 so far. After he struck the cyclists, he got out of the truck waving an imitation firearm. He was shot by police, but not killed. He was transported to the hospital. His condition, so far, is not known.

While authorities are not calling this an act of terror, they are calling it “a deliberate act.”

NYPD are reporting that he shouted ”Allah Akbar” after exiting the vehicle. The President has been briefed on the situation, but has not commented yet.

There are some reports of a man in a green shirt chasing the driver around after he got out of the car, but that has not been substantiated. You can get updates on this story at istate.tv.

Paul Gordon is the publisher and editor of iState.TV. He has published and edited newspapers, poetry magazines and online weekly magazines.
He is the director of Social Cognito, an SEO/Web Marketing Company. You can reach Paul at pg@istate.tv